Friday, September 19, 2008

It's Official...


I've never blogged before. Getting a facebook page in June was a big step for me. Plus I have a Blackberry, so I take everyone's pictures with it and upload them and my status updates from my phone. That's as involved as I got. (OK, I'll fess up. I got hooked on flair.)

But then life changed for me on August 17th, when my brother Tim told me that Christian and Stephanie Nielson had been in a plane crash. Christian is Tim's age, and I have known him since he was eleven.

Well, I had really known his sister, Charity.

Charity, Andrea, Alicia, Charisse and I had been friends in Laurels (our 16-17 yr old church class) and spent the next eight years enjoying college, dating, getting married, catching up at birthday lunches and having children. But life was to be different for Charity. She passed away at age 26 from cancer, leaving a premature baby boy and husband behind. The four of us "girls" were at the funeral together, still in shock that the shining life that Charity was, was no longer with us.

I felt that same feeling when I heard about the plane crash. I knew they had not died, but in some ways it seemed what they were about to have to go through was somehow worse. And I thought of the nine other Nielson siblings. And their parents, Russ and Mary. Another one of their children going through terrible pain. They had to go through this again.

So before August, I think the only blog I ever read was my sister
Emily's. But in the past month I have spent hours and hours reading the NieNie Dialogues and c jane enjoy it. I check my Blackberry a few times each day hoping Courtney (Stephanie's sister) has added a new post to her site. And when she does, I usually end up with wet eyes.

Over the past month, I learned that there was another large family, the Clarks, far away from their sweet sister. And hey are doing what I truly belive my giant pack of siblings would do. Take the horse by the reigns and GO! They are an AMAZING group of people. They have allowed tens of thousands of us to join them in this journey of love, pain, and hope. (
Christopher's blog helps with the laugher.)

So back to why I am here. Well, life is "life-ing" me right now. It is full of stress. And I mean "the cup runneth over" type of FULL. And guess what? I am tired of being ruled by it. I want to take charge and have a "problem" so big that I don't have time to be depressed or filled with anxiety. (I'm not saying they aren't real, cuz sister, I've got the real kind.)

But it's just that hiding under my comforter and gaining 40 lbs that last nine months (and it's 40 of 120 lbs I worked really hard to get off 2 years ago) isn't cutting it! I want something that wakes me up in the morning, because I am so excited to get to work on it.

I'm thrilled to say, "I've found it!"

I am blown away with the amount of donations Stephanie and Christian have gotten in the past month. But I fear that time will pass, and quickly the media coverage will end, the auctions will get fewer and fewer and there just won't be enough to cover what they need. I refuse to let money, of all things, be a stress creator for the Clark or Nielson families. I try not to let myself think of everything Stephanie and Christian will have to go through medically, physically and emotionally. In the short term and LONG term. None of that can be avoided. But stress around money DOES NOT have to be there for them.

So my stand is that 'Nie' Days, Events, Fundraisers, Auctions do not go away.

I say this fundraising is not over by a long shot.

And not just for Stephanie and Christian.

But for all of us, who have found a part of ourselves that we love because:
-we have put other's needs first
-we have become a community
-we have talked to our children about other people's trials and giving service
-we have pushed out the meaningless chats and filled them talking about NIE
-we have remembered how blessed we are and
-we have been in action to make someone else's burden lighter.

And so I guess to help make this happen,


I am officially part of the blogging world.

2 comments:

Erica said...

I too have been following these life and heart changing stories. I have been able to purchase a few of the auction items, and contirbute in a small way. The auctions were so exciting, and it felt so good. I would love for it to continue to help these families, as well as anyone else. Thanks so much for catching this spirit, and helping it spread more.

Connie said...

Jolleen - you are doing a great job of sharing this story...I would NEVER have heard about this except for your facebook page...and I have told a million people. You are making a difference!!!